From next month it will start enforcing facial age estimation to allow children to chat with strangers only if they are in their broad age group.

Roblox compared its new system to school cohorts such as elementary, middle school and high school. It will be introduced first in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands, where children will be blocked from privately chatting with adults they do not know in real life from next month, and in the rest of the world in early January.

Users will be placed into the following groups: under nine, nine to 12, 13 to 15, 16 to 17, 18 to 20, or 21 and over. Children will be able to chat only with others in their age group and similar ones. For example, a child with an estimated age of 12 will be able to chat only with under-16s. Images and video used for the checks would not be stored, Roblox said.

  • pyria@kbin.melroy.org
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    2 hours ago

    I wouldn’t be complaining about this, except I am because Roblox is operated by pedos.

    Something extreme measures such as face recognition has to be taken to ensure problems like this won’t happen again. However, though, pedophiles having access to data storage containing such verifications can go so wrong on so many levels.

    So heres what they should do:

    Fire and prosecute all of the pedos. Replace the pedos with trustworthy people to operate Roblox. Then go through verifying.

  • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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    5 hours ago

    From next month it will start enforcing facial age estimation to allow children to chat with strangers only if they are in their broad age group.

    This is going to backfire spectacularly, what idiots.

    • Carmakazi@piefed.social
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      5 hours ago

      Right on its face, is it even legal to collect head shots of minors? I know US privacy laws are a joke but there’s usually some carve outs that protect minors.

      • Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip
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        4 hours ago

        It’s illegal to collect ANY data from children under 13. Facial scans are WAY worse than the anonymized use stats those laws were put in place to block

      • meco03211@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        Can’t protect them too much, though. Otherwise, how would the pedo-in-chief and his ilk get a fresh crop of sex slaves?

    • pivot_root@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      No, no. It makes perfect sense from an investment standpoint. Their actual target audience would love to be able to pay for access to that catalog.

  • rtxn@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    Problem: the game is getting a notoriety for being infested by pedophiles and the developers are actively protecting them.

    Solution: send your photographs to the game infested by pedophiles to prove you are a real child!

    Fucking. Incredible. If this was written in a manuscript, it would be tossed for being too cartoonishly unrealistic.

      • rtxn@lemmy.world
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        33 minutes ago

        Absolutely! Multiple, in fact. In order of preference:

        1. Shut down the game, dissolve the company, and donate all remaining funds to a women’s shelter.
        2. Prosecute groomers instead of banning and threatening the people who are trying to stop the fuckers and crying about vigilantism even when the proper reporting channels are used.
        3. Use AI for a beneficial purpose at least one goddamn time. Scan the text and voice communications (it’s a public game, there is no expectation of privacy), flag suspicious exchanges for human review, then ban and report groomers.
      • altkey (he\him)@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        37 minutes ago

        Them having an office large enough to moderate in-game communications, on every popular language? They have some billions to spare. Serving kids requires a lot of work they have neglected for a very long time.

        Facebook was a vehicle for hateful, genocidal messages in Myanmar, and they seemingly got of the hook having no person understanding local language on the market they occupied.

        If Roblox primarily targets kids, they can’t go without agressive moderation, psy-help on demand, things one would find obvious, but these are never required, not to say it’s not that sexy as getting profits and cutting corners.

        I don’t know if their business model would be viable if they started things right from the beginning, but it would be more stressful to them to finally start doing something about that.

    • Brewchin@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      This. Imagine being a company who suddenly has to do the right thing simply because they can’t afford the “we’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas” approach any more.

      Litigation may be an awful substitute for regulation, but at least its having some positive effect here.

      Shame about the way they’re doing it, though. It’s a wet dream for politicians and activists in favour of age verification, and for the hackers who’ll inevitability get their hands on all of it.

        • nomorebillboards@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          This argument is just silly.

          >Uses an iOS device

          >Wants to be able to install third-party apps

          >“Why do you want to be able to allow viruses?”

          • MotoAsh@piefed.social
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            2 hours ago

            This isn’t about sideloading. This is about adults mingling with children on Roblox. Interesting how you miss the point so thoroughly.

  • blave@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    So, Roblox is shutting down? The entire thing is a child sex crime, so unless they’re shutting down, nothing has changed

  • pivot_root@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    Company profiting from allowing pedos to groom children enacts steps to prevent pedos from grooming children? Like that’s going to happen.

    Whatever solution they come up with, I can guarantee that it “accidentally” has a loophole in it.